714 



TEXAS. 



The Mexican force being too strong to be repelled 

 by the Texas troops, and it being impossible to 

 raise a civil posse from the citizens, who are nearly 

 all of Mexican blood and sympathy, and having no 

 reinforcements within 700 miles, I ask the aid of 

 such United States troops as may be nearest to the 

 scene of action, to repel this invasion of our terri- 

 tory. 



A favorable response to this application was 

 given by the Administration, and United States 

 troops were ordered to move from New Mex- 

 ico to the scene of the difficulty. But there 

 seems to have been no further outbreak. The 

 United States troops in this department, while 

 executing orders to prevent marauding from 

 Mexico, carried out as far as practicable in- 

 structions from Washington to enforce the 

 neutrality laws and prevent the invasion of 

 Mexico by parties from the Texas side of the 

 Kio Grande. A large party of revolutionists, 

 under Colonel Martinez, was driven across the 

 river in June, pursued to this side, and attacked 

 again, by Mexican troops ; they took refuge in 

 one of the United States camps near by, were 

 disarmed and detained prisoners for about a 

 month and until they gave their parole not to 

 organize in the United States to disturb the 

 peace of Mexico. Another party, consisting 

 of 2 officers, 44 men, and 43 horses, organizing 

 for the same purpose, was arrested near Eagle 

 Pass by the troops, August 5th, and, pursuant 

 to law, placed under bonds by the United States 

 commissioner not to violate the neutrality laws. 

 General Escobedo, and 16 officers with him, 

 were arrested in camp near Ringgold Barracks, 

 July 21st, under instructions from these head- 

 quarters, and taken before the United States 

 commissioner, who placed them under bonds 

 to keep the peace ; and a strict watch was kept 

 over the movements of every Mexican and 

 American who might be suspected of design- 

 ing to disturb the peace or plunder the people 

 across the border. 



The important question, whether the inter- 

 marriage of negroes and whites is lawful in 

 Texas, was decided by the United States Dis- 

 trict Court, at Austin. The question arose 

 under the act of the Texas Legislature passed 

 in 1858, which forbids any person to marry a 

 negro or a person of mixed blood, descended 

 from negro ancestry, to the third generation 

 inclusive, under penalty of confinement in the 

 penitentiary for not less than two nor more 

 than five years. There has been no law passed 

 by the State of Texas since the abolition of 

 slavery prohibiting marriage between the white 

 and black races. The issue before the court, 

 in this case, was whether the act of 1858 is 

 now in force. Judge Duvall held that it was 

 not, for the following reasons : 



Because it was passed in the interest and protec- 

 tion of slavery, before that institution had been 

 abolished, and when the negro was not a citizen of 

 the United States, and because it fixes a penalty 

 upon the white person alone. It is a prohibition 

 based solely upon color, and operating on the white 

 race alone. To say that this statute is now in force 

 would be, as it seems to me, to disregard the effect 



of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the 

 Constitution of the United States, and the first sec- 

 tion of the civil rights bill. I think it infringes upon 

 both. It is unfair and unequal in its operation, be- 

 cause it would visit a heavy penalty upon a white 

 citizen, and none whatever upon a colored citizen, 

 for doing a certain act. It is ordered that the clerk 

 of this court do forthwith direct the sheriff of Mc- 

 Lennan County to discharge said Lou. Brown from 

 further custody, as being deprived of her liberty, 

 under the aforesaid act of the Legislature.contrary to 

 the Constitution and laws of the United States. 



Excepting the border troubles already de- 

 scribed, the public affairs of Texas were very 

 quiet during the past year. There was no ses- 

 sion of the Legislature, nor a general election. 

 Efforts have been made, by public officers and 

 others, to disseminate information concerning 

 the natural resources of the State and the in- 

 ducements which are offered to immigrants to 

 settle there. The natural advantages of Texas 

 are many and important, and are at present 

 attracting a large immigration. 



The State may be divided into four regions : East- 

 ern, Central or Middle, Western, and Northern 

 Texas. Eastern Texas embraces the territory be- 

 tween the Sabine and Trinity Rivers, and is the great 

 timber region of the State, there being only a few 

 prairies confined to the Gulf coast. The southern 

 portion is low and level, the northern rolling and 

 elevated, but not mountainous. The greater portion 

 of Central Texas, between the Trinity and Colorado 

 Rivers, is prairie, but there is considerable timber 

 along- the streams. Northern Texas, including two 

 or three tiers of counties, from Red Elver, is about 

 equally divided between prairie and forest. West- 

 ern Texas embraces the region between the Colorado 

 and the Rio Grande ; prairies cover about four-fifths 

 of its surface ; with the exception of occasional dis- 

 tricts covered with post-oak or the mesquite-tree, 

 timber is confined almost entirely to the valleys of 

 the streams, which are densely wooded. The north- 

 west extremity of the State, between Indian Ter- 

 ritory and New Mexico, is known as the "Pan- 

 handle." In general the south and southeast portion, 

 along the coast, is level and of little elevation. North 

 of this the country is undulating. The west and 

 northwest region is almost an elevated table-land, 

 while the district between the Pecos and Rio Grande 

 is mountainous. The table-land includes a large 

 part of the Llano Estacado, and has been but imper- 

 fectly explored ; it is said to vary from 2,000 to 4,000 

 feet in height. The Llano Estacado or Staked Plain 

 (so called from the great abundance of yucca stems, 

 resembling stakes) extends from the Rio Pccos in 

 New Mexico on the west to the head-waters of the 

 Colorado, Brazos, and Ked Rivers on the east, and 

 from the valley of the Canadian on the north to the 

 Pecos on the south. Its surface is gently undulat- 

 ing ; vegetation is scanty, owing to the dryness of 

 the climate and the lack of streams. The principal 

 ranges, between the Pecos and Rio Grande, are the 

 Guadalupe, Sierra Hueca, Eagle, Sierra Blanca, and 

 Apache Mountains, attaining in places an elevation 

 of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Between the upper 

 waters of the Colorado and Brazos is a liirge tract of 

 timbered land, known as the " Mesquite Timber," 

 and between the upper Brazos and Trinity a long 

 tract, from 5 to 30 miles wide, extending from John- 

 son County to the Canadian River, in Indian Ter- 

 ritory, and called the " Cross Timbers." 



The climate is remarkably salubrious; and, though 

 warm enough for the production of most of the semi- 

 tropical and some of the tropical fruits, it is less 

 enervating and more free from malarious diseases 

 than that of any other of the Gulf States. Northern 

 cool, dry winds occur from October to May at in- 



